it ain't personal

that was pointlesss. we could have stayed strangers

A LeafChange storm blows in one morning, bringing trouble on dark wings.

The place is a certifiable dump, in his opinion - but then most places are. And this looks like it's his kind of dump, so it's worth sticking around until the next storm winds roll through, he supposes.

And so he walks, a barefoot shadow in tight leather and adorned with feathers so black they almost make him look dipped in ink, sprouting through his hair and laying flat across his shoulders like a mantle. It's a partial shift to any with eyes knowledgable enough to see it, though in reality they're probably more interested in watching something else.

Like the stall that the stranger upends - for apparently no reason - and the man he shoves out of the way when he tries to protest. Sinking his teeth into an overripe peach, somehow it doesn't hide Arsen's smile as he continues down the street, glass-blue eyes sweeping for the next worthy bit of his attention.

Arsen

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

There’s a commotion, a shouting in the streets that draws Sunjata’s attention. Haulani always bustled, always had some form of voices that floated into the Slagveld on the wind. But this was different, this was almost panicked and frustrated, and it quickly becomes Sunjata’s problem. So he peers from the window of his office, spying what’s occurring, before grabbing whatever he needs to try and ease the disruption.

And then he descends into the streets of Haulani, following the chaos until it leads to a half bird half man looking person, inky feathers sprouting from every which way. “Hey!” He calls out at first, reaching forward to grab Arsen’s shoulder. “The fuck do you think you’re doing?” His accented voice is entirely unamused, demanding an answer, steel gaze trained on this unknown person.

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SUNJATA

that was pointlesss. we could have stayed strangers

An elbow comes around from the hand still holding the peach to his lips, Arsen spinning abruptly and aiming the blow somewhere in the head region of most people. As it turns out, the hero of the day is a wee bit taller than he is, so if the hit lands it'll be more like an elbow to the throat. Oops.

"Gettin' breakfast. What's it look like?" he wants to know, taking another bite out of the peach and letting the juice run down his chin. Stepping back a few feet, he wipes it away with the back of his forearm, looking Sunjata up and down as though the heavily scarred and tattooed man before him is something amusing.

"Careful you don't hurt yourself, old man," he drawls. "Don't want you to break a hip or nothin'. Stall looks better upside down anyways."

Arsen

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

He should have guessed, an elbow rising and aiming for his head has Subjata moving just enough that the elbow lands in his shoulder, and he hisses out a curse as the man moves away slightly, turning to look back at him. Sunjata’s gaze narrows on the man, a sneer on his lips. Breakfast? Ha, sure, alright. “Looks like you’re making a mess of things.” He rumbles instead, peering at Arsen with a raise of his brow, expectant, as if he’s waiting for the man to respond.

He isn’t, really.

There’s a cold laugh that leaves him at what the boy says, a shake of his head, approaching again as the tattooed skin on his arms shift to the armor of the dragon shift and his fingers curl into a fist. “Alright. Come on then.” They could test that theory. Unlike training in the Slagveld this has no rules, he could use his shifts as he saw fit, and he sees the opportunity now as he moves toward Arsen, quickly, aiming a fist to Arsen’s chest as a bit of a distraction, his leg sweeping out to hopefully knock the man down.

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SUNJATA

that was pointlesss. we could have stayed strangers

"An' it looks like you're slow as well as old." Arsen bounces his eyebrows at Sunjata with another bite of his peach, tossing the juicy and mostly eaten fruit over his shoulder where it bounces away into the sand. Blue eyes flick down to the armoured scales that start to bleed across the other man's skin, and ink black feathers ruffle in anticipation, as if he might have found a worthy opponent after all.

He dashes out of reach of the fist that comes for his chest, but the leg is a bit of a surprise. With a grunted curse, Arsen twists in the air on the way to the ground, and more feathers splay across his form, flecking and framing his face, his features sharpening, as if becoming more avian. He lands in a crouch, with arms mostly shifted into great black wings, but not... quite.

"C'mon then," he challenges with a grin, as if Sunjata is the one who is lagging behind.

Arsen

is this heartache we can fix?

in the morning when we wake?

Honestly, he’s kind of used to taunts. He wouldn’t have made it so far if he took them all personally, anyway, more of a fan of proving his worth rather than all talk. And something about the arrogance in Arsen’s face seems to scream to Sunjata that the kid has a lot to learn. But gods he’s surprisingly quick, the feathers encompassing more of the other man until he looks far more avian.

Sunjata can’t exactly do that with his dragon shift, not with the wings that would be an easy target, but he knows he also can’t fly with his wings from his macaw, but it Arsen wants to give it a good solid try, well, who is Sunjata to deny him?

So he opts for his panther shift, man becoming fur and teeth and claws, scrambling along the street toward Arsen with a growl, claws aimed for the feathered man.

when i'm sober, would you stay?

SUNJATA

that was pointlesss. we could have stayed strangers

It takes a lot to wipe the smirk of Arsen's face, and he doubts this grizzled guy is going to manage it. Still, the appearance of a cat in place of whatever-the-fuck he expected from the scales is an interesting twist, and as the panther lunges forward his grin only grows. Stay down, furball, he drawls through the Attuned link, lurching up at the last second so Sunjata can leap right into the open and outstretched talons that have replaced his bare feet.

Arms spread wide, and with a beat that lifts him upwards, he tries to clench his talons around fur and flesh, while the rest of his shift bleeds into place. It's still mostly humanoid, something which confuses Arsen, let alone the rest of the world, all inky feathers and pale flesh, tufted ears tapering up from the plumage that frames his face. "You want me - jump for me!" He scoffs, relishing the ruckus they're causing.

Arsen

you promised me sunshine, why's it gloomy? we'll wait 'til the night to catch the moonbeam

Furball? If he wasn’t already shifting and trying to show this kid a lesson, he’d laugh at the statement. As it were though, the kid seems to be able to do one of the things Sunjata can’t, a feat that frustrates him to no end as his paws clash against sand and stone, nothing of the boy in the space. But there’s claws that drag against his spine, pulling out a few tufts of dark hair, that cause another frustrated growl to leave his lips.

But he spins, steel eyes trained on the bird man, ears pinned back. You wanna take this to the sky? We can do that. He hisses down the attuned bond, haunches poised as he launches himself into the sky, shifting to a macaw until he gets higher than the buildings on either side of the alley, where his dragon shift won’t destroy anything. Dark fur shifts to navy feathers, so small in comparison. And he waits, hovering in the air for Arsen to follow him up just a bit higher, hoping the kid thinks he might be able to take advantage of a rather small macaw in comparison.

SUNJATA

that was pointlesss. we could have stayed strangers

An arrogant and overconfident youth will always fall for these sorts of tricks, and so it's with a dutiful propulsion of wings that the harpy follows in Sunjata's wake. He's an agile thing, more feather than anything else in the full shift, legs tucking in a little to streamline talons against his body and the flight feathers of his tail. Hate to break it to you, but you ain't so tall up here, he hisses through the bond, eyes flashing in the light as if trying to pin on Sunjata.

And he finds him, a smudge of navy against a lighter sky, and Arsen shoots forward on a beat of wings. Quite what he'll do if when he gets hold of the ball of navy fluff is quite beyond him - he only has the concentration of now, and now is telling him that this guy has asked for a fight, and so he's gonna get one.

Arsen

And I can taste it, it's my sweet beginning

The kid moves fast, Sunjata will give him that. But he moves in exactly the space Sunjata had hoped, straight for him. He’s a small navy creature in the midst of the human shaped bird that comes flying at him, but it doesn’t last for long. No, he slips up further into the air, further away from Haulani down below, waiting for Arsen to catch up.

And when the kid does? Sunjata dives below him, feathers shifting to the armor of his dragon, his body shifting and contorting until it’s a large black dragon in the air below Arsen. And he’s arriving fast, bared sharp and daggered teeth, steel eyes trained on the man. How about now? He asks, maw parting to try and snap away a few of the kids tail feathers.

SUNJATA

that was pointlesss. we could have stayed strangers

Arsen doesn't move fast - he's a fucking bullet in disguise, if he knew what one was. But that just means he runs into trouble all the quicker, and the navy ball of feathers turns into a maw full of absolutely fucking not, quick as a flash. Holy fuck, he manages to grate out, twisting in the air to try and avoid the teeth grabbing at his tail feathers, though they still do manage to snap a few out. Pain flashes through the Attuned bond, and Arsen responds instinctively, halting the next beat of his wings to lunge with talons outstretched towards one of the dragon's eyes.

Of course, then he realises there's some stuff even he would be stupid to try and fight, so the harpy drops away into a bleak looking freefall. He aims to plummet a good few feet, more agile than the armoured beast above, and when he stretches out his wings they can catch a current of air, letting him propel away through the air. He doesn't want anything to do with this, thank you very much.

Arsen

And I can taste it, it's my sweet beginning

The kid is fast, but that doesn’t matter much when macaw turns to dragon. Jaws widen, teeth revealed to be jagged and sharp are aimed exactly at snatching a few tail feathers. And they do, black feathers sticking in between a few of his sharp, daggered teeth, the feeling of a smirk overcoming his end of the Attuned bond at Arsen’s freak out.

But the man twists and lunges, talons outstretched for his eye, something that Sunjata hadn’t quite anticipated but still manages to avoid losing an eye entirely – the harpy’s talon’s scratching against the armor that surrounds an eyebrow. Get the hell out of my town. Comes the accented, rough rumble, down the attuned bond as the dragon dives after the harpy – still high enough to not run into any buildings, letting a blue glow begin in his throat.

He sends a small warning shot at Arsen, watching as it flies through the air after the kid and blasts into the edge of a cliff, a small rockfall occurring but nowhere that’s populated. Let that be a lesson, he supposes, steel eyes trained on the black bird-human, waiting to see where he goes.

SUNJATA

that was pointlesss. we could have stayed strangers

Yeah, Arsen goes the fuck away, though it can't really be counted as out of Sunjata's town. It's out of Haulani, though, and that'll do for know. His pride stings as much as his lower back, and he twists in the air enough to track the ball of fucking lightning as it crashes into a nearby cliff, sending rockfall crunching to the sand below.

Fine, old man. Grouchy old reptile, he snarks back through the Attuned bond, and there's a sense that Arsen might have learned something about Torchline, but he hasn't learned his lesson by far.

And so he disappears as a streak of black into the dense jungle that borders the beach, feathers thoroughly ruffled. The same can't be said about his mood, though - like it or not, that was fucking exhilarating.

~FIN

Arsen